Overdue, by midwife and journalist Amity Reed, takes a hard look at the NHS and the ways its policies, while well meaning, have failed mothers in England.

Amity Reed was raised in Texas and, as an American used to the USA’s arcane system of health insurance, was initially amazed by the NHS. The extra fees Americans are used to being charged after health insurance has paid for some of the cost do not exist under the NHS. After the births of her two children and a bout with post partum depression, Amity trains to be a midwife. She anticipates that Better Births, a report promoting midwives as primary caregivers during a woman's pregnancy and postnatal care, will make a positive difference in her field. Over the next several years, she grapples with disappointment as she sees the reality of hospital care. Midwives are overworked and so unable to provide the care they know is need. Prejudices are shown to the poor and foreign. Burnout is common, Reed suffers from it herself.

In conclusion, Reed lays out the changes she would like to see made to the practice of midwifery. These are well thought out and thoroughly explained. I hope they are put to use. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Pinter & Martin and Amity Reed for this ARC.

This book really opened my eyes to the NHS, and midwifes. Not as common in the US, as in London, I learned a lot about midwives. The good and the bad, like every profession.